1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator with a so-called double-acting door, and more particularly, to a door cooling air supply apparatus of a refrigerator having a double-acting door that is capable of switching a flowing path of cooling air supplied from a refrigerator main body to a door when the door is selectively opened rightward or leftward of the refrigerator main body.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the structure of a door cooling air supply apparatus of a refrigerator in accordance with the conventional art, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-Axe2x80x2 in FIG. 1 detailing a cooling air flowing path in the state that the door of the refrigerator of FIG. 1 is closed.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the refrigerator includes a main body 10 including a freezing compartment and a cooling compartment 13 and a freezing compartment door 15 and a cooling compartment door 17 hinged at one side of the main body 10 to open and close the front openings of the freezing compartment and the cooling compartment 13.
Shelves 19 are disposed one above the other inside the cooling compartment 13, and a cooling compartment cooling duct 21 is disposed extending in the vertical direction at a rear side of the cooling compartment 13 of the main body to discharge cooling air into the cooling compartment 13.
A cooling air conduit duct 23 is buried inside the insulation behind the liner forming the rear wall and the right wall of the cooling compartment 13 to communicate cooling air from the duct 21 to the cooling compartment door 17. A connection end portion 24 is formed at the front opening region of the duct 23 to communicate with a door cooling duct (to be described).
A plurality of door pockets 18 are separately disposed on panel face of the cooling compartment door 17.
A door cooling air duct 25 is formed at the central area of the cooling compartment door 17 for supplying cooling air to bottle type foodstuffs such as bottled beverages kept in the door pockets 18 disposed below, in communication with the cooling air conduit duct 23.
A plurality of cooling air discharging holes 26 for discharging cooling air therethrough are separately in the door cooling air duct 25 arranged along the longitudinal direction thereof.
A connecting portion 28 is formed at a hinge coupling portion side area of the door cooling air duct 25 to communicate with the connecting end portion 24 of the cooling air conduit duct 23 so that cooling air can flow in thereto from the cooling air conduit duct 23.
The above-described conventional door cooling apparatus for a refrigerator, however, has a problem that since the cooling air conduit duct 23 for supplying cooling air to the cooling compartment door 17 is buried in the insulation behind the liner forming the rear wall and the right wall of the cooling compartment 13, which is integrally formed with the main body 10, it is impossible to change the cooling air passage arrangement after manufacture.
Alternatively, in case of a refrigerator with a so-called xe2x80x9cdouble-actingxe2x80x9d door in which a door is hinged at both sides whereby it can be selectively opened rightward and leftward, when the cooling compartment door 17 is pivoted around the side opposite to the side where the connecting portions 24, 28 for communicating of the refrigerator cooling air conduit duct 23 with the door cooling air duct 25 is formed, since the connecting portions 24, 28 of the cooling air conduit duct 23 and the door cooling air duct 25 hardly align with each other accurately, in such case cooling air is leaked or is not smoothly supplied from the main body 10 to the cooling compartment door 17 while the door is opened.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a door cooling air supply apparatus for a refrigerator with a double-acting door that is capable of switching a flow passage of cooling air supplied from a main body to a door according to an opening direction of the door when the door is selectively opened leftward or rightward of the main body.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a door cooling supply apparatus for a refrigerator with a main cooling air duct and a double-acting door including: a first cooling air separating duct and a second cooling air separating duct separated from the main cooling air duct; a door cooling air duct installed at the cooling compartment door to discharge cooling air from the cooling compartment door to the cooling compartment and connected to the first and the second cooling air separating ducts; a plurality of door opening sensing means for detecting an opening direction of the cooling compartment door; a controller for determining the opening direction of the cooling compartment door according to the detection made by the door opening sensing means; and a cooling air switching unit installed at an area where the main cooling air duct is separated into the first cooling air separating duct and the second cooling air separating duct and selectively opening one of the first and the second cooling air separating duct controlled by the controller.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.